1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to binary multipliers for computer systems, and more particularly to multipliers adapted for 3-D graphics calculations.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the most compute-intensive applications is the manipulation and rendering of three-dimensional objects for display on a two-dimensional display screen. Yet three-dimensional (3D) graphics applications are becoming more popular with computer users and should continue to gain popularity as higher-performance computers emerge.
Three-dimensional objects or surfaces are approximated as connected polygons or triangles. Greater detail can be obtained by using a greater number of smaller triangles to approximate the object or surface. Distances and angles from a viewer to these objects are calculated and used to determine which surfaces to display and which surfaces to hide. Surfaces farther away from the viewer or at a high angle to the viewer can be shaded or shown in less detail than closer, flat surfaces.
The image displayed on the computer's display screen is generated from the position, color, and texture of the triangles which are stored in the computer's memory. Each triangle is divided into lines of pixels which are stored and scanned to the display screen. However, the triangle directly specifies the color of only three points--the three vertices of the triangle. The color of pixels within the triangle must be calculated from the colors of the three vertices. Thus a large amount of computational work is needed to interpolate from the three vertices the colors of the many pixels within the triangle.